Royals Put U.S. Back in Playoff

KANSAS CITY —  There was no pennant for the Toronto Blue Jays to wave Sunday.

Southpaw Danny Jackson prevented it, doggedly pitching Kansas City to a 2-0 victory that left the Blue Jays with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series for the American League championship.

Now it’s back to Canada for Game 6 Tuesday night. Back to the nationalistic fervor of Exhibition Stadium, where the zealots wave the Maple Leaf in a style reminiscent of Coliseum crowds during the Olympics.

“It’s super,” Kansas City third baseman George Brett said Sunday. “This has become more than just a playoff. I feel as if I’m representing the U.S., and that’s neat. I even saw some U.S. flags today (in a crowd of 40,046).

“I mean, being involved in the (American League’s) first international playoff has added a little more flair. This playoff has been a little more fun.”

Toronto left fielder George Bell doesn’t see it that way.

In fact, he is one angry Dominican.

Bell implied Sunday that this international playoff has bred an umpiring conspiracy against the Canadian team.

“If our club was American we’d have it won by now,” Bell said.

“If the umpires were Canadians I’d be happy.”

In one of only three Toronto scoring threats against Jackson, Bell led off the fourth with a single to right. He then attempted to reach third on Cliff Johnson’s ensuing single to left. Umpire Dale Ford ruled that Lonnie Smith’s throw beat him, although the replay showed otherwise.

The threat died there. The frustration lingered. It was the fourth close call to go against the Blue Jays, whose complaints in each instance have been supported by the TV cameras.

Was he safe Sunday?

“One hundred percent,” Bell said. “As soon as Cliff hit the ball I was thinking ‘third base.’ The only way Lonnie Smith can throw me out is the way he did--for the umpire to make the call.

“I don’t say the umpires don’t want the World Series in Canada, but you can show them the tapes and tell them they’re horse(bleep).

“It’s unbelievable.

“If we were a Dominican team we wouldn’t have won even one game.”

Asked then if he was saying that the umpires were both anti-Dominican and anti-Canadian, Bell refused a direct answer, but said, “What do you think?”

Umpire Vic Voltaggio was enraged by the Bell comments.

“George Bell has a lot of talent,” he said. “He’s going to be a great player. But he has a nickel head on his shoulder. He’s got a lot of growing up to do.

“We’re out there working our butts off. Sometimes the calls can seem to go one way, but to say we have it in for the Blue Jays is ridiculous. We have nothing against the Toronto Blue Jays. I shouldn’t even lower myself to answer him.”

Toronto Manager Bobby Cox said there was no question about the Sunday replay.

“George was safe,” he said, “and that might have been the ball game in that we would have had runners at first and third with no outs.

“You don’t think (Jesse) Barfield or (Willie) Upshaw would have gotten at least one run in?”

Cox, however, refused to support a conspiracy charge.

“Ridiculous,” he said. “Completely untrue. I would never think that way, though I am to a point where I would like to see some of these calls even out.”

Center fielder Lloyd Moseby, the victim of pivotal calls in Games 2 and 3, said of the anti-Dominican and anti-Canadian charge:

“George has got to be kidding. If it was true, they’d (the umpires) be kicked out of baseball.”

Have the calls weighed on the Blue Jays?

“They don’t mean anything,” Bell said. “We just have to go out the next day and beat them. We have to hit it out of the ballpark so that they don’t have the chance to make a call, but we have to make sure we don’t hit it near the foul line.”

The closest the Blue Jays came to hitting it out Sunday was a Bell drive to center in the sixth that Willie Wilson caught up with on the warning track, then careened off the fence.

Jackson allowed eight hits but retired the last 10 Blue Jays in order. He received suspect umpiring assistance in weathering the fourth inning threat, but was on his own in the fifth and sixth.

Garth Iorg opened the fifth with a single and took third on Ernie Whitt’s double into the right-field corner. Jackson then got Tony Fernandez on a grounder to short, Damaso Garcia on a pop to second and Lloyd Moseby on a grounder to second.

Barfield and Upshaw singled consecutively with two outs in the sixth. Iorg then walked--Jackson’s only walk--to load the bases. The 23-year-old Jackson responded by getting Whitt on a grounder to second, then worked flawlessly over the rest of the game.

It was the fourth shutout of his second season, a year in which he was 14-12, defeated the Angels, 4-1, in the pivotal finale of their four-game September showdown and allowed only five earned runs in the 32 innings of four starts against Toronto.

Manager Dick Howser had both Bud Black and Bret Saberhagen warming up in the late innings Sunday, but said he thought about a change only when the bases were loaded in the sixth.

“I can’t say that one more pitch or one more hitter would have finished Danny off,” Howser said. “But he took the decision out of my hands. Some guys start looking to the bullpen, but he didn’t. He closed it out. The last three innings were his most impressive.”

Now its up to Mark Gubicza (14-10) to keep the Royals alive Tuesday night. He faces Doyle Alexander (17-10).

If the normally reliable Dan Quisenberry had been able to close out Games 2 and 4, it might now be a 3-2 Kansas City lead.

The might haves, however, are meaningless.

Jackson was reality. He gave the Royals what they had to have.

Said Brett: “I’ve heard a lot of people who have been in the game a long time say he’s going to be the best left-hander in the league next year. I can believe it. He’s still young, he’s never been in a situation like this, but when he got Whitt with the bases loaded, I felt then that the game was over.”

The Royals, batting .223 for the five games, got eight hits en route to beating 14-game winner Jimmy Key.

Smith, who was 1 for 14, got three hits. Steve Balboni, 1 for 15, got two.

Smith opened the Kansas City first with a double, then stole third on his own. He was then in position to score on Brett’s one out grounder. The RBI was the 18th for Brett in championship series competition, tying a Reggie Jackson record.

Balboni got his first hit after Frank White opened the second with a bunt single. White took third on the ensuing single and scored on Daryl Motley’s fly to center.

The Royals, 3 for 37 with runners in scoring position, were through, but they had done enough.

Cox shook his head later and said of Key:

“I wish all of my starters gave up only two runs. We’d win most of our games.”

The Blue Jays, of course, are still in control.

Said Barfield: “If we can’t win one of two at home we don’t deserve to play in a World Series.”